Running Away
by Arwendle
Summary: Andy's reasons for stopping when the lights came on. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**A/n - This story came about when I was trying to decided if my story "Not Here to Hold Your Hand" had become a pumpkin after the airing of "Hot and Bothered." I decided that I did not have the time to continue that story properly and so decided to write a quick one shot instead. As with all my writing projects, the whole thing grew much larger than I originally intended and will be posted in two parts.**

**I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Andy McNally knew what love was. It was not the superficial attraction peddled by Hollywood romantic comedies but something that settled so deep in your bones and swirled so thickly through your blood that your partner became a part of your physical being. Her parents had been in love or, at least, her father had been. As a child, she had watched her parents orbit each other like twin stars, the dashing police officer and the beautiful artist moving in perfect unison around the breakfast table, a hand caressing a shoulder blade as juice was poured, a spontaneous embrace in front of the refrigerator, a kiss on the collarbone or whisper in the ear while dishes were washed. At night, Andy fell asleep basking in her family's warmth, listening to her parents' laughter floating down the hall.

Then, one morning, her mother was not at breakfast. Her father, looking strangely flat and still, fingered a note on the table and, in the impersonal voice he used to deliver bad news to the families of car crash victims, told her that her mother had left them to start a new family. Andy had not understood. How could her mother, a woman she had worshipped with the fervour of an innocent child, leave her without even saying goodbye? How could she have cheated on her father? How could the love of that new man be stronger and worth more than the love that she already had? If there had been signs or warnings leading up to her mother's departure, Andy had not heeded them. She was blindsided. She felt as if some essential part of her had been brutally hewn from her body leaving a jagged festering wound. She had screamed and yelled and cried for weeks but it had made no difference, her mother was gone and she was not coming back.

It was not until several months had passed that Andy noticed that her father had disappeared as well. He was there physically, of course, but where the mischief had once sparkled in his eyes there was nothing but a deep, black emptiness. It was as if the life force that had animated him had been snuffed out, leaving behind an automaton which completed daily tasks with no joy or purpose. He spent long hours at work and when he came home Andy could smell the sharp odour of alcohol on his breath. She tried to be the best and most attentive daughter that she could be, hoping that, somehow, she could bring back the man that she had idolised. Sometimes, over silent dinners that she had prepared, she would catch him staring at her with a heartbreaking sadness.

"You look so much like your mother." He would whisper before excusing himself from the table. Andy would quietly follow him down the hall and sit, her back against the locked bathroom door, to listen to him sob.

In her last year of high school, she had returned from school one Friday to find him lying ashen and unresponsive, half under their coffee table. The room reeked of alcohol, broken glass and empty pill bottles littered the floor around his body, and his navy uniform had turned black with vomit and blood. Being the daughter of a cop, Andy had immediately rushed for the phone to dial 911 before hysteria could set in and paralyse her. All she could think about as she observed the paramedics working over his lifeless body was that he had tried to leave her too. The only person that she had left in the world had tried to leave her. She felt the pain of her mother's abandonment, doubled by her father's fresh betrayal, rend her fragile soul open anew. It was in that moment, hot tears stinging her cheeks, that Andy promised herself that she would never feel this way again. She was determined that she would never even give somebody the opportunity to make her feel this way again. As they wheeled her once vibrant father away on a gurney, she swore that she would never fall in love with someone who could break her heart and she would never love anyone or anything that she couldn't bear to lose.

* * *

Her father had survived and, for a while at least, seemed more like his old self. As she grew older, Andy became determined to fix not just her father but the whole world if she could. She knew that some things could be reassembled even if her family could not. In her twenties, Andy had plenty of friends and lovers but she was always cautious with her heart. If she ever forgot, Tommy McNally's spiral into alcoholism and the disastrous end to his career were there to constantly remind Andy of the promises that she had made.

* * *

Andy hadn't been attracted to Sam Swarek at first sight. He had been posing as a drug dealer and she had been too full of rookie zeal to appreciate the way his muscles rippled under his t-shirt as she tackled him to the ground. Later though, as he stripped down in front of her in the men's locker room, she couldn't help but feel a flicker of interest, even if he was a complete jerk. That night, she had attempted to buy him a drink at The Black Penny. It was supposed to be an apology or a thank you, whichever he would accept, but she had found herself overly annoyed at him when he rejected her offer. Why was he mad at her? She was just a rookie who didn't know any better. Getting arrested might have even helped his street cred. He should be angry with Officer Shaw for not finding a way to warn the station what was happening or at Detective Barber who had been the one stupid enough to actually blow his cover but Swarek had seemed quite content to drink with Barber and blame her for his misfortunes. Trying to figure out why this irritated her so much, she felt compelled to glance in his direction occasionally even though she had to turn her head considerably to do so. Once or twice, she thought she might have caught him returning her gaze.

She thought she was being hazed when Boyko had paired her with Swarek the next morning. She was certain of it when she realised that the warrant that Swarek had given her to arrest Emily Starling was nothing more than a take-out menu. He had made it clear that he was not pleased to have her ride along but seemed to surprise himself by changing his mind when she proved herself to be competent and innovative. Swarek's methods of policing and his obvious concern for the well being of his witnesses reminded Andy of her father in his better days and she found herself desperately wanting to impress him. She also couldn't deny that showered, shaved, and in uniform, the sleazebag that she had arrested was actually quite handsome.

At the end of her shift, she had joined the other rookies at The Black Penny for a drink. Andy wasn't sure what made her abandon an almost full drink to follow her training officer out into the rainy parking lot. He seemed a little surprised that she had and even more taken a back at the question that she blurted out as they came to stand beside his car.

"How do you know Anton Hill isn't going to follow Emily out west?"

"Huh?" His eyebrows dropped in puzzlement.

"We put her on a bus to Kelowna how do we know he is not going to follow her there and kill her?"

"Cause she didn't go to Kelowna." He replied, still wondering why she was asking. Her face fell and he explained further. "It's not that I don't trust you it just seems the fewer people who know..."

"Right. Yeah." She could understand that. "You really gave up the whole case for her huh?" She asked quietly, respect and adulation clear in her tone.

"Yeah, well. Who knows what I gave up? Maybe nothing. Emily's smart that way." Swarek studied her, evidently intrigued by the candid conversation she had been able to pry from him.

"Were you scared in there?" Andy asked, surprised that she had the nerve to ask such a personal question of a man who had openly disliked her that morning. He considered her and then the question for a moment.

"Yeah." He breathed out truthfully, his bravado falling away. "You?" The intimacy of the moment set her heart racing slightly and she knew that she couldn't lie to him.

"No." She shook her head. "I mean, you were there." He gaped at her as his mind tried to process her response. She reached to shake his hand. Goosebumps ran up her arm at the feel of his callused fingertips against hers.

"Let me take you home." He said not letting go of her hand. Of its own accord, her body took a step forward and she found him perilously deep into her personal space. The scent of soap warmed by his skin caressed her nostrils and she looked up into dangerous brown eyes filled with confusion and intense attraction. Her stomach flip-flopped in her throat and the emotions in his eyes flooded through her every capillary. As he leaned in to kiss her, she put her hand on his chest to stop him, taking pleasure in the sensation of hard, warm muscle under his t-shirt. A minute later, as she watched him drive away, she could still feel his body heat in her fingertips. Her reaction to Sam had been visceral, unexpected, and treacherous, the intensity of it frightening. She knew that if she wasn't careful she might find herself passionately and irreparably in love with the man. Andy took a deep breath her and resolved to keep herself as far away as she could from Sam Swarek.

**TBC**

**Reviews appreciated**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/n - This story was supposed to be completed and posted today but I simply ran out of time. Since I am leaving for my cottage tomorrow, this very short part will have to do for now and part 3 will have to wait until I can find an internet connection. Sigh.**

* * *

If Andy had any doubts about her resolution to keep a purely professional relationship with Officer Swarek, they were dispelled on the morning of fight night when her father had not shown up for their scheduled lunch. By the seventh unanswered phone call, she had been worried enough to jog over to his apartment and bang on the door. He hadn't answered it. Andy became increasingly frantic as she made her way to the exterior fire escape. 'He's not home.' She reasoned as she climbed. 'He's just out somewhere and lost track of time.' Despite her best attempts to convince herself that she was overreacting, her mouth was gummy with fear as she leant over the railing to peer through her father's window. At first glance the apartment appeared empty, then panic engulfed her as she noticed the foot. The scene before her was transcribed from her worst nightmare. The apartment had changed but her father's sprawled, motionless position under the coffee table was exactly the same. The crushing pain of remembered emotions threatened to overwhelm her but she pushed them away. 'Never again' she told herself, fighting back tears. 'Never again, never again' she repeated the phrase in her head like a mantra as she pulled the baton from her utility belt and smashed the window. Inside, she realised that this was not like the last time. There was alcohol but no vomit, his skin was rosy, and his breathing deep and even. She had managed to shake him out of his drunken slumber and keep him upright long enough for him to swear to her that he would not be drinking at fight night. She had had to leave then to return to work. She jogged back to the station grateful for the opportunity to work off some tension. As she outran the last tendrils of panic, her feet hit the ground with a steady cadence that echoed the words playing in her head. 'Never again.'

Her father's inability to keep his promise and stay sober for six hours had driven Andy directly into the arms of cute, charming, successful Luke Callahan. She had gone looking for him at The Black Penny but when she entered she had seen Sam instead. Sam had flashed her a grin, causing her heart rate to quicken with a stutter step. She had purposely ignored him, searching for a different face in the crowd. Sam's eyes followed her as she walked past him and settled onto the empty stool beside Luke.

"So, are you going to let me buy you that drink?" Luke asked, beaming down at her with a smile that had no effect on her cardiac rhythms.

"Yes, I am." She smiled back.

Andy liked Luke. Dating him was simple and easy. He brought her coffee and French fries, kissed her under cherry trees, and didn't freak out over her intimacy issues. When he had joked that idiots in love kept him in a job, she was convinced that she had found exactly the man and the relationship that she was looking for. Even so, Andy was incessantly drawn to Sam. She could try to ignore the way his presence made her body hum but she could not ignore that Sam had slowly but surely become her most trusted mentor and friend on the force. They worked well together as partners and he was always conscientious of his responsibility to teach her what she needed to know. She enjoyed their banter and their shifts, despite his tendency to make her ride shotgun and his penchant for stern lectures on how she needed to be a better cop. She wanted to be a better cop for him and, more than anything, she wanted to make him proud of her. On days when the realities of the job made fissures in her carefully maintained emotional distance, she let him come closer to comforting her than anybody since her mother left.

**TBC...**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N- This story seems to keep getting bigger and bigger! I think (hope) that the next installment will be the last. I am at my cottage at the moment and haven't had he opportunity to watch the latest episode so this takes place entirely in the world of Hot and Bothered.**

* * *

The night she killed a man, Andy's world had spun out of control. Shaw had been shot and she had descended alone into the inky darkness of the rec centre basement, her gun and her flashlight each clutched before her in a trembling hand. The stale air engulfing her was heavy with heat and moisture, as though she had entered the mouth of some colossal animal. The omnipresent electrical drone of the building had been silenced by the blackout. It was so quiet that each step seemed to thunder from her foot and reverberate down the hallway ahead of her. Her flashlight and the emergency spotlights illuminated small criss-crossing slices of the blackness, warping the room into a circus funhouse. In Andy's mind, each shadow concealed the muzzle of a gun or the body of a child. Her short, rapid breathing filled her ears as anxiety began to infiltrate her rational mind. Gun held out in front of her like a talisman she inched along, her police training the only thing keeping her from fleeing back up the stairs into the sunlight. Her beam fell on the terrified face of a little girl. She was bound and gagged but alive and Andy felt simultaneously repulsed and relieved. Her instinct was to run to the girl and free her but she knew that somewhere in the darkness there was an armed and desperate man who, after abducting a child and shooting a cop, had nothing left to lose.

When she saw him, she threw her flashlight to the ground and gripped the gun with two sweaty hands. Light spilled across the room unevenly, casting long shadows across the man's face, distorting his features until they appeared almost inhuman.

"Police. Don't move!" She yelled, her heart so far up her throat that she felt she might choke on it. Time oozed forward imperceptibly and she was assaulted by a thousand tiny details. He stepped towards her, Shaw's gun tucked into the front waistband of his pants. Even though he was still a few metres away, she could smell the pungent ripeness of his body and count the individual droplets of sweat on his forehead. "Don't move!" She yelled again as the janitor approached her steadily, his fanatical eyes boring into hers with heinous intent. Every hair on her body fully erect, her finger quivered uncontrollably on the trigger of her service revolver.

Without warning, the man reached for his gun. Before she could blink, he was dead, his quickly coagulating blood seeping out of three perfect bullet holes in his torso. She stared into his eyes which were now glassy and empty and was shocked at how quickly she had crossed the line between protector-of-life and killer. The gun felt so inert and inanimate in her hand that she wondered how it could have caused such mutilation. Everything apart from the body in front of her seemed to disappear. She didn't see the beam of Sam's flashlight, hear him charging down the hall, or feel his light touch on her shoulder. She just stood there and let the realisation of what she had done slowly seep through her being.

"It's OK." The words seemed to come from far away. She turned her head and saw Sam, his arms around the traumatised girl. "It's OK." He repeated, his eyes so soft and full of compassion that she almost believed him.

Within minutes, the rec centre had erupted with people. Police officers, paramedics, detectives, coroners, and journalists all hustled in and swirled around Andy. Someone, she wasn't sure who, had bustled her into the front seat of a squad car to wait. A black body bag on a gurney was rolled past and placed in the back of the ambulance. Knowing that she was responsible for it made her nauseous. She shoved the car door open and vomited violently onto the sidewalk. Lacking the impetus to leave vehicle, she wiped her mouth with her sleeve and put her head between her knees.

Finished briefing the investigating officers, Sam returned to the car. He didn't say anything to Andy just briefly placed a hand over hers in comfort. She wanted him to wrap his arms around her and whisper that it was OK into her hair but he slid his hand from hers and turned the key in the ignition. They drove back to the station in silence. Sam constantly threw concerned glances her way but all she could do was stare at her hands.

She had sat numbly through an hour of post-shooting paperwork before she had been allowed to leave. Luke had been waiting for her and she was glad, she didn't want to be alone with her demons. Spending the evening comforting his girlfriend obviously hadn't even crossed Luke's mind. When he spoke of the amazing homicide case that she had cracked open, Andy, raw with emotion, felt like violently slapping the contented grin off his face. She told herself that it didn't matter, that she didn't need anyone, and she could handle this on her own. She felt so drained that it wasn't even worth a fight.

Alone in the women's locker room, the light casting the same crazy shadows as in the rec centre, all of the pent up emotion that Andy had been holding back began to bubble to the surface, disquiet for the abducted girls, guilt over Shaw, disappointment in Luke, and feelings she couldn't even begin to identify over the shooting. She fumbled with her bag, her fingers refusing to obey her. There was a soft knock and the door opened.

"Hey," Sam said gently, "just got back from the hospital. Shaw's already milking this for all it's worth. He made me do a burger run." He sat himself beside her on the bench and she felt an overwhelming sense of relief. She wasn't sure if it was from the news that Shaw was going to be fine or Sam's presence or both. At that moment, she didn't care.

"How long is he going to be in for?" She asked, finding her voice.

"He's got a broken rib. He'll be out tomorrow, back on the job in a week." Sam restrained the urge to reach out to her by picking at the stitches on his palm. Andy thought about Oliver and his superstitions.

"God, if he thought I was cursed before..." She said half-joking, half-guilty.

"Are you kidding me?" Sam interjected sincerely. "He lost his gun. You got it back. He'd say you're his guardian angel right about now." Something about the way he said it, made her warm inside.

"Thank you." She breathed, unable to look at him.

"How are you doing?" he asked. She wanted to open up to him and say that the whole world was imploding, that the moral foundation of her being had crumbled, and that she wasn't sure if she could ever look at herself in the mirror again without seeing a killer. She wanted to tell him that the dead face of the man she had killed was imprinted on her eyelids and that she could still feel the buck of the gun in her hand as it fired but, as much as she wanted it, her meticulously constructed emotional defences refused to let her.

"Me? I'm great... Totally fine." She blurted out with false cheerfulness. Sam was not convinced.

"Ok." He paused. "You killed someone today."

"Well. I didn't really have a choice so..." Andy, unable to think of anything to say that wouldn't open up the floodgates or sound blatantly false, didn't continue.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really. No." She shook her head.

"Ok." Sam said and Andy turned her head to look at him. "If you change your mind call me."

They looked at each other for a moment. "Andy," a shiver ran through her when he said her name, "you did everything right today. You trusted your gut and you were right." She couldn't respond. How could he make her feel this way on the day that she had taken a life? She should be inconsolable. They gazed at each other for a long time, their eyes communicating the things that they couldn't bring themselves to say. Tears threatened to well up in her eyes and he gave her a small smile. She looked down unable to be so vulnerable in front of him any longer.

"Ok?" He asked. She nodded even though she wished that he would pull her to his chest and let her cling there until she was ready to let go. He got up to leave. Silently, she watched him, wishing more than anything that he would read her mind and stay. When the door closed and she was alone again, the little control that she had slipped away and she tumbled into an abyss of undiscovered emotions.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N- Sorry this took so long to get out folks. I have been out of town with limited internet access.

* * *

Violent sobs shook Andy's body and hot, salty tears cascaded down her cheeks, dripping off of her chin to create dark splotches on her jeans. She had killed somebody. She had killed somebody and she didn't even know his name. A wet drop splashed on her hand and she realised that it was shaking. She clenched her fists to stop them trembling. Her nails bit deeply into the flesh of her palms, the pain momentarily distracting her from the crushing reality of what she had done...of what she had become. Murderer. The word seemed to ricochet through her brain and echo through the empty room. Sitting alone in her dark apartment haunted by the glassy, dead eyes of the man that she had killed, Andy was overwhelmed with guilt, grief, and regret so strong that she felt like her organs were being squeezed outwards by an expanding pit of self-loathing. She had snuffed out that man's life with no more thought than it took to blow out a candle. It didn't matter that the man was a killer, a rapist, and a pedophile or that he had shot a cop. It didn't even matter that he would have killed her, there had to have been another way.

Sam had told her that she had done everything right but he was wrong. If she had been a better cop, if she had been Sam, that man would have been behind bars instead of lying in the morgue. She had made so many mistakes. If only she had convinced Dhara to tell her why she stole the ice cream truck, if only she hadn't been jealous of Sam's pretty girlfriend, if only she had cleared her section of the rec centre faster, if only, if only, if only. She felt like ants had invaded her body and were burrowing tunnels between her skin and her flesh. She couldn't sit still and she couldn't stay there in her suffocating apartment alone any longer. She had to get out. She needed...Sam. She reached for her keys. Her hand froze. She couldn't go to him. It would break every rule that she had made for herself, both personally and professionally. 'Never rely on someone else. Do it alone and you won't get hurt,' Andy reminded herself. Paralysed by indecision, her mind began to churn again. Why hadn't she tried to disarm him? Why hadn't she talked to him calmly instead of cornering him with a gun? Why hadn't she shot to incapacitate instead of to kill? Hot nausea swept through her again. She couldn't bear to feel like this. She had to find a way to make it stop. She knew of only one person who had a chance of distracting her from this... only one person who had a chance of making her feel something stronger than the self-revulsion in her heart. Sam. She grabbed her keys off the table. Sometimes, you couldn't do it alone.

The unlit streets had taken on a carnival-like atmosphere. Andy could not understand how the people around her could still be laughing and smiling and out walking their dogs as if the earth were still tilted at the proper angle. Every shadow and flash of light conjured up images of the rec centre causing her to look around nervously and walk faster towards Sam. Every fibre of her being seemed to be pulling her to him. She was in awe of how he could make her feel so safe and so terrified at the same time. She wanted him and tonight, she wanted him to help her forget.

She knocked on Sam's door, suddenly apprehensive. What if he wasn't home? He hadn't offered her a ride. Maybe he had plans? Worse, what if someone was there with him? What if Monica was there with him? She almost bolted from the steps when she saw the beam of his flashlight dancing unsteadily through the frosted glass. What if he rejects me? The thought turned her blood to ice but it was too late to run, she could hear him unlocking the deadbolt. The door opened and Sam looked out, his eyes softening slightly as he recognised her.

"Hey." She said, her breathing rapid with the fear that she would lose her nerve at any second.

"Hey."

"You alone?" Sam seemed slightly confused by her question and glanced back into his house as if to make sure.

"Yeah." Andy relaxed slightly with his answer but her body was filled with misplaced energy that would not allow her to be still. When Andy didn't continue, he asked, "do you want to talk?" Heart racing, Andy shook her head and stepped across the threshold.

"No." She said, her hands splaying across Sam's abdomen. Despite being much stronger than her, he allowed her push him forcefully against the wall without protest. His eyes widened and then quickly darkened as she moved close and crashed her lips into his. He gave a quiet grunt of surprise and kissed her back. The feeling of soft lips and evening stubble against her mouth sent shivers to the base of Andy's spine. She pressed her body into his, feeling his hard, warm contours through their clothing. His masculine scent surrounded her causing her belly to tighten with sudden heat. Still pinning him against the wall, she wrapped her arm around his neck as he ran his hand along the hollow of her back and pulled him closer. Suddenly, the only thing that mattered was the way his body slid against hers. Sam kissed her greedily, like a man convinced that he was going to wake up any second.

As Sam filled his hands with her hair and began to manoeuvre them deeper into his apartment, thoughts of death and guilt slipped from her mind and were discarded in the hallway along with her shoes. Revelling in the sudden clarity of her mind, Andy shoved him against the wall again, letting her teeth graze his bottom lip. Sam gasped, his palm creeping upwards under her shirt, leaving a trail of goose bumps from her hip to her ribcage. By the time they reached his bedroom, she was so consumed with Sam and the sensations that he was producing in her that she had completely forgotten why she had come. She let out a moan as her tongue teased his. The way he was touching her was spectacular. It was like he had electrical charges on the tip of each finger. Needing to feel his skin against hers, her hands found the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head their lips only parting for a moment. His strong arms wrapped around her pulling her against him with delicious friction that made her knees go weak. He released her only long enough to tug off her top before picking her up effortlessly. She wrapped her legs around his waist, their stomachs brushing as his hands pressed into her back. Even though the room was sweltering his skin felt hot against hers. She could feel the hard cords of muscle under his smooth flesh thrumming with want for her. Andy had never been more aroused as he laid her back on the bed and worshipped her lips and neck with kisses that she could feel in her toes. The smell of him seemed to rise from the bedding and seep into her pores marking her with his scent, making her his. She could feel his rough hands skimming along her body possessively, their hips seeking each other's friction through their jeans. He stared down at her as he kissed her, taking moments to pull back and study her face like he wasn't sure if her being there was a fantasy or a reality. She never wanted this to end. She wanted to be here with Sam forever.

The lights flickered on and she looked up into his eyes which were so dark with passion and need that they seemed to pierce something deep within her. He dipped his head again and she expected to feel his lips against hers in another kiss. Instead, she felt his nose rub hers in a movement that was so tender and intimate that her heart exploded in her chest. It was that instant that she realised with horror how deeply she was in love with Sam. How much she never wanted to let him go. How she could see herself with him for always.

"The power's back on." He said huskily looking away, annoyed at the sudden light and noise. She needed him to look at her again.

"I guess that means that everything is back to normal." She said running her hand up his abdomen through his chest hair. She could feel his heart skip a beat under her fingertips, feel him twitch against her. He looked at her and her traitorous heart skipped its own beat.

"I'd better turn a few things off." She could feel his breath on her lips. All she had to do was raise her head to pull him back into a kiss. She wanted him to tell him that she didn't care about the lights or the tv, that he should just keep kissing her and making her feel things she hadn't ever let anybody make her feel. Instead, his eyes never leaving her, he stood up and quickly switched off the light bringing the room back to candle light.

With his weight gone from her body, she suddenly felt empty, longing for him. The intensity of the feeling terrified her.

As he disappeared from the room, she began to panic. Is this what it would feel like when he left her, just a hundred times worse? She closed her eyes and the reasons why she had come came flooding back. Oh God! The noise of the tv shut off in the other room and she could feel the vibration of her phone in her back pocket. She pulled it out. Luke. The thought of him didn't send a thrill through her. It felt more like somebody had dumped a bucket of icy water over her head, snapping her back to reality. What was she doing here? She had broken so many rules and promises by coming. 'Stupid girl' she scolded herself mentally. 'Never ever fall in love with someone who can break your heart and never love anyone or anything you can't bear to lose'. She was not going to sleep with her training officer, she was not going to cheat on Luke, and she was most definitely not going to fall in love with Sam Swarek. Her body still humming with his touch, she hastily pulled on her shirt. Sam appeared in the doorway. The look on his face made her realise that maybe her heart was not the only one in danger of being broken here.

"Yeah, I guess everything goes back to normal." He said leaning against the wall. She averted her eyes guiltily. She couldn't look at him. She knew that if he touched her or spoke to her that she would lose her resolve. She didn't see the struggle that played across his face or the words that were on the tip of his tongue but never came. She did hear him turn and leave the room. Her eyes flew up to the empty doorway, an icy knife stabbing her heart. Yes, this is what it felt like for Sam to walk away from her. She didn't think that she could stand it. She wouldn't stand it. She was going to keep her promise to herself and run back into Luke's safe arms. Even as she ran she knew it was a useless flight, Sam Swarek was already lodged tightly into the deepest recesses of her heart.


End file.
